29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you
a strong urge to sleep deeply. 1
He has shut your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation 2 is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read 3 and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.” 29:12 Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read 4 and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.” 5
29:13 The sovereign master 6 says,
“These people say they are loyal to me; 7
they say wonderful things about me, 8
but they are not really loyal to me. 9
Their worship consists of
nothing but man-made ritual. 10
29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –
an absolutely extraordinary deed. 11
Wise men will have nothing to say,
the sages will have no explanations.” 12
1 tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.
2 tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”
3 tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”
4 tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”
4 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).
5 tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”
6 tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”
7 tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.
8 tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”
5 tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.
6 tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”